A Hunger For More

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As precious as sparkling drops of crystal clear water in parched and dusty desert land are the words of God in today’s spiritually arid day and age.

Promises, invitations and declarations of His holy identity are priceless, particularly when the best alternatives the world can offer are nothing more than philosophical and spiritual Band Aids. Such plastic alternatives to the real-life that God would give us inevitably lead us in ways contrary to the divinely appointed purpose for which you and I have been created.

But because the hand of God Himself has fashioned you and placed you in your corner of the universe at such a time as this, you have inestimable worth and unfathomable significance! Your life, precious and priceless in the mind of God, is a vital thread in the tapestry of creation. You’ve been given life from God and just as God observed that each phase of His creation was not only good, but with the triumphal arrival of human life was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), so does He look upon the potential of your life for His glory. The kind of thread that you will be, will be shaped to the extent that you drink in the words of God, absorbing His thoughts towards you and all of humanity, and fleshing out the truth His Word would bring forth in you.

Not only that, your precious life, when it is placed under the hedge of divine protection apportioned to those who would choose to trust Him, has every opportunity to intimately know the goodness of God. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1 ESV).

What an incredible destiny is yours for the taking! What an amazing invitation has been extended to you! All He awaits is faith. Make no mistake, the faith that He desires to harvest from your life isn’t some sort of super spirituality that you have to somehow muster up on your own. Real faith is simply the trusting obedience of regular men or women, even if and when doubts stir in their hearts or nagging whispers of worry and apprehension gnaw at them. Trusting obedience tenaciously lays hold of God and is an unshakable commitment to live life His way.

“And now… what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it… the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, Who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:12-14, 17-18 ESV).

Amazing, isn’t it? Humanity spurned its Creator and chose to attempt to rise to divine heights on its own (see Genesis 2:8-17, 3:1-23). But no matter how much we may have deserved rejection from the broken heart of a perfectly holy God, He did not shrug His shoulders and point His finger at us with accusatory brow-beatings, “You made your bed; now sleep in it!” Instead, He vindicated His holy Law by taking our punishment upon Himself in the form of Jesus Christ and simultaneously extended to each of us the offer of reconciliation. Oh, yes! How precious indeed is your life in the eyes of its Maker! How precious is the life of every man and woman, boy and girl to this amazing God!

How comforting to know that in a world as twisted and riddled as is ours with the disease of sin and selfishness, that one’s destiny doesn’t need to be a lifetime of futility ending in spiritual death. And what a tremendous blessing to know that this same God, Who bequeathed to me an enduring hope even as I placed my faith in His Son. This loving God has plans for me, my children, their children, and their children’s children, even though our world paints horrid pictures of despair and surrounds our young people with images of hopelessness and terror.

There are children today that the world says don’t matter and don’t count. There are children today who have been abandoned — orphaned by society. Nevertheless, they matter in the mind of God. Whether handicapped, abandoned by one or both parents, or unborn and unexpected, they too have His eyes watching over them and are objects of the same blessings that our Maker would lovingly pour out on all His creation.

Are you wrestling with feelings of inadequacy? Are you finding that a sense of belonging is eluding you? Have you ever been told that you’re not wanted or awakened one day to find yourself left behind by someone who should have loved you and helped you? Have you ever felt shut out of life and happiness, wondering if you’ll always feel like an outsider, wandering aimlessly through life?

Remember that God specializes in lifting up the downtrodden and repairing the broken-hearted. Remember that He is a guardian to those who are weak and afraid. Remember that “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:18 ESV).

A person’s life is precious to the One Who gave it… even the one given to you. Guard it well and invest it wisely. Give it back, day-by-day, to the only One Who can enrich it and fill it with purpose, joy, and peace. Surrender it daily so that God Himself might multiply it and give back to you the riches of eternity, as He moves through your life and makes His goodness known to the world.

“… Fear the LORD your God … Serve Him and hold fast to Him, and by His name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God …” (Deuteronomy 10:20-21a ESV).

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